Ski pole provided with hand loop

ABSTRACT

An adjustable hand loop is secured to the grip of a ski pole. The belt of the hand loop is held by fastening and adjusting means, which are provided on the transverse top face of the ski pole grip and of the ski pole.

United States Patent Inventors Franz Xaver Bruckl Krottenkopfstrasse 50,Eschenlohe, Germany;

Appl. No. 751,854

Filed Aug. 12, 1968 Patented Feb. 2, 1971 Priority Aug. 17, 1967, March18,1968

Germany SKI POLE PROVIDED WITH HAND LOOP 3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 280/ l 1.37 Int. Cl

GH, B, EB, BE, A; 34/14. 1 14.4

[56] References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 630,919 12/1961 Italy 280/ll.37B81,605 4/1953 N0rway.... 280/11.37BH 90,014 9/1957 Norway....280/11.37BH 96,515 8/1960 Norway 280/11.37BH

Primary Examiner-Leo Friaglia Assistant Examiner-Milt0n L. SmithAtt0rneyStevens, Davis, Miller and Mosher ABSTRACT: An adjustable handloop is secured to the grip of a ski pole. The belt of the hand loop isheld by fastening and adjusting means, which are provided on thetransverse top face of the ski pole grip and of the ski pole.

PATENTEU FEB 2 IBM SHEET 1 OF 2 M a I d W %Vwv PATENIEUFEB 219m SHEET 2BF 2 Fig. 5

SKI POLE PROVIDED WITH HAND LOOP This invention relates to hand loopsfor ski pole grips.

Ski pole loops are known which are designed so that the loops arereceived in a unilateral recess in the grip and secured by a screw whichextends from above through the grip. That loop has a plurality of holesadjacent to the fastener so that the latter can be engaged with adifferent hole when the loop is to be shortened. To this end, thefastening screw must be loosened, a portion of the loop must be cut off,and the loop must again be secured to the screw. These loops areobviously undesirable because an adjustment is most complicated andcannot be performed without a tool.

In order to avoid these disadvantages, loops have been made which aresecured like those described hereinbefore but consist of two parts,which are fastened by a usual belt loop and adjustable therewith. Theseloops may alternatively be adjustable with the aid of buckles. They havethe disadvantage that the adjusting device, e.g., the buckle, canproperly perform its holding function only if it bears on the back ofthe hand, which is thus subjected to a strong and inconvenient pressurein use. To facilitate the fastening of these loops, they are so stronglytapered at both ends that the leather will stretch after a short time,particularly when it is wet. Owing to its taper, the manufacture of suchloop is fairly expensive because this method of manufacture takes a longtime.

The invention provides an integral holding loop which has the same widththroughout its length. In one embodiment, the loop is secured to thegrip in conjunction with a buckle by means of a screw. This provision ofthe loop on the grip affords the advantage that the adjusting buckle isin an area where it cannot apply unfavorable pressure to the hand sothat the ski pole can be properly handled.

In another embodiment of the ski pole loop according to the invention, arear opening is provided at the upper end of the ski pole grip. The loopbelt is inserted into that opening in such a manner that the two endportions of the loop are super-imposed and then backfolded. A bellcranklever extends from above into the receiving opening formed in the skipole grip and said lever is pivoted to move forwardly during theinsertion of the loop so as to enable such insertion. That part of thebellcrank lever which is visible from the outside assumes an upwardposition during that operation. The upstanding part of the bellcranklever is depressed when the holding loop has been inserted so that theinserted loop is then held in position by the inner part of thebellcrank lever. The insertion opening in the ski pole grip is designedso that the bottom of the inside space defined in the ski pole handle bythe receiving opening is lower than the lower edge of the receivingopening. This provides an edge which enables a reliable clamping of theinserted loop when the bellcrank lever has been depressed. It isapparent that the length of the loop can be adjusted when the outer partof the bellcrank lever is raised so that the inserted loop is free tomove and can be adjusted in length.

In another embodiment of the ski pole holding loop according to theinvention, the bellcrank lever mentioned hereinbefore is replaced by anadjusting screw, which acts on the loop and is guided in screw threadsthat are accessible from the top of the ski pole grip. In thisembodiment, the lower edge of the receiving opening need not lie abovethe inner bottom of the receiving space. The adjusting screw ispreferably provided in its top face with a groove, which is dimensionedso that the screw can be adjusted with the aid of a readily availablecoin.

The holding loop according to the invention may be advantageouslycombined with profiled ski pole grips, which in a pair of ski poles areprovided with recesses for the embracing fingers and an elevation forsupporting the palm of the hand, said recesses and said elevation beingshaped so that one ski pole grip conforms to the left hand and the otherski pole grip conforms to the right hand whereas the inside surfaces ofthe ski pole grips are smooth. In the accompanying drawings, embodimentsof the holding loop according to the invention are shown, partly incombination with ski pole grips of the kind which has been mentionedabove. The use of the holding loops according to the invention is by nomeans restricted, however, to that embodiment because the holding loopsaccording to the invention may be attached to any desired ski pole grip.

The accompanying drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention.

FIG. I is a side elevation showing an embodiment of the fixation of theadjusting device for the holding loop according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear view showing the fixation of the means for adjustingthe loop.

FIGS. 3 to 5 show an embodiment of the means for fixing the holding loopaccording to the invention.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the means for fixing 5 the holdingloop according to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the means provided according to theinvention for fixing the loop buckle 22, which is secured to the grip 18by a screw 23 and the loop 24. The second end of the belt 25 can thus beadjusted in length as desired and the buckle 22 cannot apply pressure tothe hand of the skier.

FIG. 1 shows the means 19, 22, 23, 24 of FIG. I for fixing the bucklefrom the rear with a broken-away belt edge 26.

FIGS. 3 to 5 show further embodiments of the loop-fixing means accordingto the invention. FIG. 3 is a side elevation, partly cut open, showing aski pole grip according to the invention, where the backfolded holdingbelt 30 is inserted into the opening 31 formed in the ski pole and isheld in the receiving opening by the swung-down bellcrank lever 32 andthe projection 33. FIG. 4 shows the same embodiment during the insertionof the holding belt. The bellcrank lever 32 is then moving as indicatedby the arrow to enable the insertion of the backfolded belt 30.

FIG. 5 is a rear view showing the same embodiment of the loop-fixingmeans according to the invention without a holding belt. It is apparentfrom that showing that the bellcrank lever 32, which is fluted on itstop surface to facilitate its manipulation, extends downwardly acrossthe inside width of the receiving opening 34 so that the lever 32 whendepressed cooperates with the upstanding edge 33 at the receivingopening so that the inserted holding belt is reliably held in position.The pivotal axis on which the bellcrank lever 32 is movable isdesignated 35 in FIGS. 3 to 5.

In FIGS. 3 to 5, the loop-fixing means according to the invention isshown in conjunction with a handle formed according to the invention.The invention is not restricted to this combination but the loop-fixingmeans according to the invention may be used with a grip of any othershape.

FIG. 6 shows a modification of the previously described embodiments ofthe loop-fixing means. In this case, the end portions 30 of the holdingbelt are laid together and backfolded, then inserted into the receivingopening'and held in position by an adjusting screw 36, which acts fromabove and can be adjusted in usual manner with the aid of a grooveformed in its top face. This groove is preferably dimensioned to enablean adjustment of the screw 36 with the aid of a readily available coin.

Ski poles having the above-mentioned profiled grip are described morefully in the application filed by the applicant on the same day underthe title Safety Ski Poles Provided With Grips" Ser. No. 751,957, filedAug. I2, 1968. The combination of such profiled grips with the retainingloop according to the invention is within the scope of the presentinvention.

Iclaim:

l. A ski pole having a hand grip, said grip having adjacent its upperend a rearwardly directed opening for receiving one end of the handloop, a bellcrank lever pivotally mounted within the hand grip andhaving an arm adapted to project into said opening to engage said oneend of said hand loop to retain said loop in said opening, saidbellcrank lever being pivoted to a nonholding position upon insertion ofthe hand "loop into the opening.

3. A ski pole according to claim 7, wherein the hand loop has the samewidth throughout its length.

1. A ski pole having a hand grip, said grip having adjacent its upperend a rearwardly directed opening for receiving one end of the handloop, a bellcrank lever pivotally mounted within the hand grip andhaving an arm adapted to project into said opening to engage said oneend of said hand loop to retain said loop in said opening, saidbellcrank lever being pivoted to a nonholding position upon insertion ofthe hand loop into the opening.
 2. A ski pole according to claim 7,wherein said opening has a lower edge which is higher than the spacelying behind said edge.
 3. A ski pole according to claim 7, wherein thehand loop has the same width throughout its length.